Safety bed lock attachment means



Sept. 7, 1965 c. c, SAUNDERS SAFETY BED LOCK ATTACHMENT MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 5, 1965 I NVENTOR. Charlie 6. Saunders p 1965 c. c. SAUNDERS 3,204,258

SAFETY BED LOCK ATTACHMENT MEANS Filed March 5. 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F162 ii. FIG. 3 2 i 72 74 L: 40- 32 40 0 INVENTOR. 70 3 70 Char/fa G. Saunders United States Patent 3,204,258 SAFETY BED LOCK ATTACHMENT MEANS Charlie C. Saunders, Rte. 1, Box 219, Warm Springs Road, Columbus, Ga. Substituted for abandoned application Ser. No. 166,720, Jan. 9, 1962. This application Mar. 5, 1965, Ser. No.

6 Claims. (c1. -328) This application is a substitute for forfeited application Serial No. 166,720, filed January 9, 1962, and allowed August 22, 1962.

This invention relates to a safety bed lock attachment means, and has for an object to provide means for releasably securing a bed in a fixed position in a location, whereby the bed may be locked to the floor so as to prevent accidental movement thereof by any normal pressure against the sides or end of the bed frame, and which lock may be readily released so that the bed frame may readily slide or roll in a normal manner on its own feet over the supporting floor.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an attachment means which may be rigidly or attachably secured to both ends of a bed frame and yet be operated from either end of the bed frame for locking or unlocking both ends to the supporting floor.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a bed frame attaching means particularly intended for a hospital bed, which normally includes readily movable supporting bed legs on the frame, so as to lock the hospital bed frame against movement when it is desired to keep the bed frame stationary to resist accidental movement, as when a patient is being placed on or removed from the bed, but which may be readily released so that the bed frame may be moved in a normal manner to any desired location.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide a safety bed lock attachment means which may be readily attached to practically any existing bed frame, and particularly anyexisting hospital bed frame, for simultaneously locking both ends of the bed frame against movement, or releasing both ends of the frame for movement, as desired, and both locking and unlocking means may be mounted for simultaneous operation or, alternatively, each attaching means may be mounted for independent operation.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide an improved safety bed lock which will prevent the bed from sliding in any direction and thus prevent the fiat wheel situation which occurs when the supporting wheels of the bed are locked or braked, rather than the bed itself being locked, as in this invention.

With the above and related objects in view, this invention consists in the details of construction and combination of parts, as will be more fully understood from the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bed frame to which the safety bed lock attachment means of this invention has been secured.

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of one of the bed frame locks of this invention, in bed frame locking position.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but with the lock in the unlocked position.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view on line 55 of FIG. 3.

There is shown at a typical bed frame having a head board 12, a foot board 14, bed frame connecting bars 16 and bed foot wheel rollers 18, all of conventional construction to which this invention is applied for releasably holding the bed frame 10 locked against movement when 3,204,258 Patented Sept. 7, 1965 desired, by locking it to the supporting floor 20 without providing any braking action on the rollers 18 and thus preventing the formation of flat spots on the rollers 18. Although the bed frame herein illustrated shows metallic head and foot boards and connecting bars, it is quite obvious that this invention may be equally attached when the bed 10 consists of wooden head and foot boards with wooden connecting bars, if so provided.

The invention comprises a safety bed lock attachment means 22 for each of the two opposite ends of the bed, one attachment means 22 being attached to the head board 12, and the other being attached to the foot board 14, and each attachment means 22 may be mounted for independent operation or, preferably, is mounted for common or simultaneous operation by providing a connecting control rod 24 for simultaneously operating both bed brakes 22. The attachment means 22 includes a stanchion 26 attachably secured as by bolts 28 to each of the head and foot boards 12 and 14 of the bed frame 10. The stanchions 26 will be of an appropriate length so that they depend close to, but have their lower end suitably spaced from the floor 20 on which the bed is supported. Where necessary, as here shown on the foot board 14, a bridge attaching bar 30 provides means for attaching the stanchion 26 to parts of the foot board 14 centrally spaced thereon.

A cylindrical open-ended sleeve 32 is welded or otherwise suitably secured as at 34 to the lower end of the stanchion 26. A control rod 36 is journaled through an upper portion of the stanchion 26 and fixedly secured on the control rod 36 is a crank arm 38, and secured on the stanchion 26 and extending on one side thereof into the path of rotation of the crank arm 38 is a stop 40, so as to prevent the crank arm 38 from being rotated much beyond its downward movement in one direction, but permitting it a much greater degree rotation in the opposite direction.

Pivotally connected to the end of the crank arm 38 is a link 42 threadedly, and hence adjustably, secured to a yoke 44 which, in turn, is pivoted as at 46 to the top end of a connecting rod 48. This connecting rod 48 extends through an apertured head 50, which head 50 is threaded on a cylinder 52 which slidably extends through the cylindrical sleeve 32.

Adjacent the lower end of the cylinder 52 is secured a pin 54 against which is biased a coil spring 56, the upper end of the spring 56 being biased against a flange 58 provided on the connecting rod 48 within the cylinder 52. A leaf spring 60 is secured at one end as by rivet means 62 to the stanchion 26 and resiliently contacts the apertured head 50 of the cylinder 52 so as to hold it in either position, that is, the locking position of FIGS. 2 and 3 or the unlocked position of FIG. 4, but permitting it to be readily movable between these two positions, the flange 58, when moved upwardly, abutting the inside of the apertured head 50 to lift it from the position of FIGS. 2 and 3 to the position of FIG. 4 against the resistance of the leaf spring 60. When the control rod 36 is rotated in the opposite direction to move the link 42 down from the position of FIG. 4 to the position of FIGS. 2 and 3, the connecting rod flange 58 biases against the spring 56 compressing the spring 56 until its pressure becomes greater than that of the resistance of the leaf spring 60, thus snapping the cylinder 52 downwardly. At the lower end of the cylinder 52 there is provided a locking foot 64 consisting of a disc 66 having a central abutment 68 on the other side thereof threaded as at 71 into the lower end of the cylinder 52. The lower side of the disc 66 is provided with a resilient friction surface such as the rubber pad 70, so that when the cylinder 52 is in its lowermost position,

it is resiliently pressed by the compressed spring 56 so that the surface of the rubber pad 70 is in tight frictional contact with the floor 20, thus preventing the bed frame from being moved.

To rotatethe control rod 36, a crank handle 72 is secured thereto at the outside end thereof as by a set screw 74. If it is desired to make both bed locks 22 -operate simultaneously, the inner ends of both control rods 36 have the connecting control rod 24 secured to their inner ends as by set screws 76, so that manual manipulation of either crank handle 72 at either end will simultaneously rotate the crank arms 38 to operate the links 42 against the connecting rods 48 to lower the feet 64 into locking position, or raise them to unlocking or released position. Obviously, only one crank handle 72 may be provided at one end of the bed, if desired, or one may be provided at each end.

When the feet 64 are lowered and pressed against the floor 20, they hold the bed frame 10 substantially immovable by direct contact with the fioor, not by braking the wheels or rollers 18 against rotation which if the bed is forcibly moved without releasing the brakes, would cause fiat spots to develop on the wheels. In this case, the great pressure suflicient to overcome the looking effect of the feet 64 would not cause any flat spots on the wheels, yet due to the much greater contacting surface of the feet 64 with the floor 20, a very much greater lateral pressure would be necessary to move the bed frame when so locked, than if the wheels 18 were held against rotation.

'With this safety lock mounted on the bed frame, it is practically impossible to accidentally move the bed frame, particularly as when, in the case of a hospital bed, a patient is being placed on or removed from the bed, thus preventing accidental injury to the patient. Similarly, the bed is held immovable when a person, whether a patient or not, is climbing into or out of the bed, yet when the locking foot 64 is released to the non-locking position, the bed may be readily moved on its rollers 18 in the normal manner.

Although this invention has been described in considerable detail, such description is intended as being il-' lustrative rather than limiting, since the invention may be variously embodied, and the scope of the invention is to :be determined as claimed.

Having thus set forth and described the nature of this invention, what is claimed is:

1. A safety bed lock attachment means comprising bed frame attaching means, said attaching means including a depending stanchion, a sleeve secured to the lower end of said stanchion, a control rod means journaled in said stanchion adjacent its upper end, a crank arm secured on one end on said control rod, stop means on one side of said stanchion limiting the rotation of said crank arm in one direction, a link pivotally connected at one end to the other end of said crank arm, a connecting rod pivotally secured to the other end of said link, a cylinder slidably mounted in said sleeve, resilient means on said stanchion contacting said cylinder and yieldably resisting axial movement of said cylinder, a friction material surfaced foot secured on the bottom of said cylinder, a spring in said cylinder biased thereagainst adjacent its lowerend, an apertured head on said cylinder, said connecting rod extending through said head into said cylinder, abutment means on said connecting rod within said cylinder biasing against said spring on downward motion therein and abutting the inner surface of said apertured head on upward motion therein, whereby when said control rotates downwardly and past axial center of said stanchion to stop means abutting position, said connecting rod biases said spring to pressure said cylinder downwardly and press said foot downwardly, said stanchion being so attached on the bed frame that said foot is thus pressed against the floor on which the bed frame is supportedto thus lock the bed frame against rolling movement on the floor, and when said crank arm is rotated in the direction away from said stop, said connecting rod abutment means abuts said cylinder apertured head to raise said cylinder and said foot away from contact with the floor.

2. The safety bed lock attaching means of claim 1, said bed frame attaching means comprising bed frame attaching lock means for each of two opposite ends of the bed frame, said control rod means being a common rod journaled in the depending stanchions of both bed frame ends and rod connecting both control rods for common control of both bed locking feet.

3. The safety bed lock of claim 1, said link being adjustable in length.

4. The safety bed lock of claim 1, said stanchion supported resilient means comprising a leaf spring secured at one end on said stanchion and biased against said cylinder head.

5. The safety bed lock of claim 1, and a crank handle secured at one end of said control rod means.

6. The safety bed lock of claim 1, said foot comprising a disc, a resilient friction material secure-d on one surface of said disc, a boss extending centrally of the opposite surface of said disc, and a threaded end on said boss threadedly secured to the lower end of said cylinder.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,085,444 1/14 Lawrence 5328 1,183,107 .5/16 Norton l885 2,798,232 7/57 Ericsson 5328 2,830,304 4/58 Ericsson 5-328 2,945,242 7/ Heiden 5328 X I FOREIGN PATENTS 544,248 1/ 5 6 Belgium. 3 77,766 6/23 Germany.

FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner 

1. A SAFETY BED LOCK ATTACHMENT MEANS COMPRISING BED FRAME ATTACHING MEANS, SAID ATTACHING MEANS INCLUDING A DEPENDING STANCHION, A SLEEVE SECURED TO THE LOWER END OF SAID STANCHION, A CONTROL ROD MEANS JOURNALED IN SAID STANCHION ADJACENT ITS UPPER END, A CRANK ARM SECURED ON ONE END ON SAID CONTROL ROD, STOP MEANS ON ONE SIDE OF SAID STANCHION LIMITING THE ROTATION OF SAID CRANK ARM IN ONE DIRECTION, A LINK PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ONE END TO THE OTHER END OF SAID CRANK ARM, A CONNECTING ROD PIVOTALLY SECURED TO THE OTHER END OF SAID LINK, A CYLINDER SLIDABLY MOUNTED IN SAID SLEEVE, RESILIENT MEANS ON SAID STANDCHION CONTACTING SAID CYLINDER AND YIELDABLY RESISTING AXIAL MOVEMENT OF SAID CYLINDER, A FRICTION MATERIAL SURFACED FOOT SECURED ON THE BOTTOM OF SAID CYLINDER, A SPRING IN SAID CYLINDER BIASED THEREAGAINST ADJACENT ITS LOWER END, AN APERTURED HEAD ON SAID CYLINDER, SAID CONNECTING ROD EXTENDING THROUGH SAID HEAD INTO SAID CYLINDER, ABUTMENT MEANS ON SAID CONNECTING ROD WITHIN SAID CYLINDER BIASING AGAINST SAID SPRING ON DOWNWARD MOTION THEREIN AND ABUTTING THE INNER SURFACE OF SAID APERTURED HEAD ON UPWARD MOTION THEREIN, WHEREBY WHEN SAID CONTROL ROTATES DOWNWARDLY AND PAST AXIAL CENTER OF SAID STANCHION TO STOP MEANS ABUTTING POSITION, SAID CONNECTING ROD BIASES SAID SPRING TO PRESSURE SAID CYLINDER DOWNWARDLY AND PRESS SAID FOOT DOWNWARDLY, SAID STANCHION BEING SO ATTACHED ON THE B ED FRAME THAT SAID FOOT IS THUS PRESSED AGAINST THE FLOR ON WHICH THE BED FRAME IS SUPPORTED TO THUS LOCK THE BED FRAME AGAINST ROLLING MOVEMENT ON THE FLOOR, AND WHEN SAID CRANK ARM IS ROTATED IN THE DIRECTION AWAY FROM SAID STOP, SAID CONNECTING ROD ABUTMENT MEANS ABUTS SAID CYLINDER APERTURED HEAD TO RAISE SAID CYLINDER AND SAID FOOT AWAY FROM CONTACT WITH THE FLOOR. 